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A group of families who have been affected by failures in NHS maternity care, including bereaved parents and grandparents, are calling for a full statutory public inquiry into maternity safety in England.
Despite a raft of national initiatives and policies implemented in the wake of investigations and reports, systemic issues continue to adversely impact on the care of women and babies. They argue that far too much avoidable harm continues to devastate lives in circumstances that could and should be avoided. Fundamental reform is needed.
The same failings in care have been repeatedly found in reviews of maternity services in Morecambe Bay, Shrewsbury and Telford, and most recently in East Kent, and the same conclusions are expected from the ongoing review at Nottingham. There are now calls for yet another unit level inquiry into maternity services at Leicester. They believe that a whole system analysis through a national public inquiry is the only way to understand what has gone wrong, why it keeps on going wrong, and most importantly find a way to fix the system and make sure every mum and baby receives the safe and compassionate care they deserve.
The Group, named the Maternity Safety Alliance, have formed over social media following the sharing of their personal experiences and heartache, as well as the frustrations at inability of the Government and Trusts to improve maternity safety.
In a Campaign Document published on 31st October 2023, the Maternity Safety Alliance state:
“Over and over again we hear that ‘lessons will be learned’ – and yet those same failings continue. And they don’t just continue in isolated corners of the NHS, they are present to some degree in almost every NHS Trust in England with the most serious kind of avoidable harm occurring everywhere.
We now have a good understanding of what clinical best practice looks like, but the barriers to ensuring every mother and every baby receives safe care have so far proved insurmountable, with problems in culture, leadership, inequality, service structures, education and training, accountability, and governance seemingly intractable.”
A detailed campaign document prepared by Emily Barley, whose daughter, Beatrice, died during labour in May 2022, shows that despite enormous efforts by many people over many years, the NHS continues to fail to provide safe maternity care, with vast financial costs. The latest figures from NHS Resolution show that in 2022/23 the total paid out for clinical negligence relating to maternity care was £2.6 billion and the total projected ‘cost of harm’ for the same year (the present value of the estimated costs of claims expected to be received) is £4.2 billion. That’s £133 a second, £8,000 per minute, £480k an hour and £11.5m each and every day.
Important data included in the campaign document reveals that recent data shows that stillbirths, perinatal deaths, and maternal deaths are on the increase. Furthermore, that some clinicians and NHS leaders continue to work against the changes needed to save lives and prevent harm, putting their ‘normal birth’ ideology or organisational reputations above doing the right thing.
The Group are calling for a national statutory inquiry because without such a process, calls for individual unit level investigations are set to continue, families will continue to be forced to fight for answers and change, and the same problems repeated time and again – with catastrophic human and financial consequences. Other leading maternity safety organisations have also called for a public inquiry, but this is the first by a parent-led campaign group.
“Only a judge-led, full statutory public inquiry can command the confidence of harmed families, healthcare providers and other stakeholders, and come to independent conclusions, free of party politics, that can then be taken forward and fully implemented to save the lives and health of mothers and babies. A full statutory national public inquiry must be ordered without any further delay” say the Maternity Safety Alliance.
The Group have launched a website (www.maternitysafetyalliance.co.uk) where people can share their experiences and pledge their support to the campaign. They have also written to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, the Rt Hon Steve Barclay MP.
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